Extension Update: January 2007 Archives

The Reducing the Drop-Out Rate in Manchester: A Summit on Solutions was held this past weekend at Southern NH University, organized in partnership by the Makin' It Happen Coalition and Sharon Cowen from UNH Cooperative Extension.

UNH Cooperative Extension staff who helped facilitate the event included Michele Gagne, Dan Reidy, Dotty Burrows, Mike Koski, Heidi Bennett and Julia Steed-Mawson. There were 13 students from the UNH Department of Resource Economics who recorded the event. The Summit brought together youth (both youth leaders and youth who have dropped out,) parents, law enforcement officials, school personnel, community organizations, elected officials and business leaders to discuss the issues surrounding youth drop out rates and brainstorm solutions or actions to try to address the issues.

The UNH students also will work with Michele Gagne throughout the semester at the upcoming Deerfield Master Plan visioning session March 23, the Claremont Master Plan visioning session March 29, the Epping Community Profile April 14 and the Rumney Community Profile May 4 and 5.

Planning is often touted as a key to the success of family farms and other natural resource based businesses. Planning starts with identifying and acknowledging individual, family and business goals.

Without clearly set goals, business owners misdirect their energies and capital investments. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll underscores the significance of setting goals in a conversation between Alice and the Cat:

"Would you tell me which way I ought to go from here?" asked Alice.
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get," said the Cat.
"I really don't care where," replied Alice.
"Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Although Alice doesn't care where she ends up, a farm business without a plan will almost certainly result in family members being frustrated and confused. Without goals, the business is at risk of failing and family relationships will be strained, or worse.

Planning is especially important for new farming and other natural resource based businesses. There are a number of different publications that report failure rates for new businesses exceeding 50 percent within the first four years. For farms and other natural resource businesses, the difficulties of starting a new business are further complicated by the challenges of dealing with weather, pests and other biological issues.

This March, UNH Cooperative Extension will offer an in-depth planning course for natural resource businesses. Over 13 weeks, entrepreneurs will develop an operating plan for their farming or forestry businesses. They will learn about biological systems, product and service marketing, enterprise profitability and legal matters particular to natural resource businesses. They'll also learn to take inventory of a site's natural resources and explore the human dynamics of running a family business.

Learn more at this web site.

Four Extension Faculty/Specialists joined 12 other UNH faculty members inducted into the 2007 Outreach Scholars Academy Friday, January 26. In its third year, the Academy is a faculty development program, designed to enhance faculty success in outreach scholarship within the disciplines.

Pingguo He, Research Associate Professor/Specialist, Fisheries, Ken LaValley, Assistant Professor/Specialist Commercial Fisheries Technology Transfer, Catherine Violette, Extension Professor/Specialist, Food and Nutrition, and Mark Wiley, Extension Specialist, Marine Science Education will represent UNH Cooperative Extension this year in the Academy.

The Academy began with an induction ceremony and luncheon attended by 50 associate vice presidents, deans, department chairs/administrators and other faculty members. Provost Bruce Mallory provided opening remarks to attendees about how our work with community partners supports the land-, sea-, and space-grant mission of UNH. Dr. Lorilee Sandmann of the University of Georgia spoke of the national movement by universities to promote engagement, citing UNH as a leader among universities in training and supporting faculty in outreach scholarship.

The Academy will meet several times throughout the semester with a national expert, coaches and Outreach Scholars Academy alumni with the goal to identify, mentor and work with faculty from across the institution interested in outreach scholarship.

Wendy French, a long-time 4-H volunteer, recently received the sixth annual Annette P. Schmitt UnSung Hero award for 2007 in Belknap County. The award honors someone who has worked quietly behind the scenes on behalf of children and families in Belknap County.

French was honored as a teacher, mentor, role model, innovator and hardworking friend of children and youth in Belknap County. She has spent almost 20 years as a 4-H volunteer in Belknap County.

She started the Tilton-Northfield Pines 4-H Club and quickly enrolled 23 children, including her own daughters. Over the years, she has taught such activities as cooking, sewing, crafts, gardening, food preservation and public speaking. She has used her talents in communication and mediation in leading a team of volunteers to build the capacity of the 4-H Fair Association, the group responsible for the comprehensive 4-H Fair during two days in August on the 4-H Fairgrounds in Belmont

Belknap County Extension Educator Becky Levesque noted, "Her 4-H work is a true labor of love."

Our newest publication, "Highlights," showcases the positive impacts of recent UNH Cooperative Extension programs. The stories within this publication emphasize the depth and breadth of Cooperative Extension's mission: to provide New Hampshire citizens with research-based learning opportunities to help them make informed decisions that strengthen youth, families and communities, sustain natural resources and improve the economy.

It has been distributed to our staff and through our county office administrators, to many of our state legislators, county officials and partnering organizations.

Please take a moment to read through the publication.

Each year, we reaffirm UNH Cooperative Extension's commitment to our civil rights responsibilities. I remain committed with the continued implementation of unbiased employment practices and the delivery of educational programs that serve all people of New Hampshire, with particular efforts to include under-served and under-represented groups.

This past year, we formally recognized Extension staff for excellence in their work to foster diversity. This award recognizes the outstanding efforts and accomplishments of staff "to achieve and sustain diversity and pluralism" within our organization, and to recognize programs that address the needs and concerns of underrepresented audiences. Among those receiving this award were Suzann Knight, Deb Luppold, Julia Steed Mawson, Margaret Hagen and Val Long. We congratulate these individuals and encourage you to follow their example in fostering diversity and pluralism in your UNH Cooperative Extension work.

We also multiply our delivery system effectively through the use of trained volunteers resulting in an increased awareness, fostering of diversity and improved practices.

Please review the Civil Rights Guide for University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension staff. In addition, you'll be interested in reviewing UNH's Diversity Initiatives.

Thank you for your personal and professional commitment to reach out to welcome, involve and serve all people in New Hampshire.

Have you ever tried fattoush, the bread salad from the Eastern Mediterranean made with tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, parsley, bread and dressing? What about chapatis, Indian flatbreads similar to pita bread?

In classrooms and after-school settings, kids throughout New Hampshire are participating in a UNH Cooperative Extension Nutrition Connections program called Cultural Cuisine, where they prepare and try international foods and learn about the culture of the people from each country.

Antonia Demas developed the Cultural Cuisine program in New York as part of her Cornell University dissertation to introduce kids to new food. She wanted them to experience food with all their senses in hopes of motivating them to prepare food and eat more variety.

We've seen it work first-hand in New Hampshire in more than 50 classrooms over the past five years. Each class session focuses on a different country. Kids learn about the language, arts, foods, history, and location of the country. Then every child has a meaningful job as the class prepares a representative dish from that country. Overall about 98 percent of the kids try the recipe.

The comments say it all:
"I loved it. The mustard gave it a big zing. I went back for seconds." (Lentil salad from the Eastern Mediterranean)

"It was good, except the mango and parsley." (Mango Salsa from South America)

"It was fun. I liked cooking."

All staff are urged to review the current draft of the UNH Cooperative Extension Strategic Plan for 2007-2012.

Please provide comments and feedback by January 22 to any member of the Strategic Planning Committee by using Word Track Changes. Members are Lisa Townson, Charlie French, Julia Peterson, Juli Brussell, Matt Tarr, Thom Linehan, Amy Ouellette, Nancy Evans, Val Long (facilitator), Holly Young (Advisor), Dave Foote (Advisor), Anna Boudreau (Advisor), and Dr. Eleanor Abrams (Advisor).

The Strategic Plan will be finalized and presented during the January 25 State Council meeting. This is the final opportunity for input from staff. As you will recall, since October, staff have had an opportunity to provide input either via county and specialist staff meetings or program area meetings, or both.

We also met with the State Advisory Council in October to obtain input. As we continue to gather input from staff and the State Advisory Council, please know that your input is important to the development of this strategic plan.

Building on our past efforts, the development of this strategic plan that describes the organization we intend to become is a formidable but important charge. Additionally, it is important that the plan be in alignment with UNH's Academic Plan that clearly and comprehensively articulates the road map for Cooperative Extension in the next five years.

Listen to an interview with John Pike in Episode 1 of Profiles in Extension, a new podcast series that will feature periodic interviews with UNH Cooperative Extension staff. You can listen to the interviews directly from the site, download them to your MP3 player, or subscribe via iTunes.